Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Your SPACE Poems 2015

Celebrating World Space Week (October 4-10):

Stars by Holly
Trinity Anglican School, White Rock

When it’s dark and coldWorld Space Week Poster
and there’s no light
look up and you’ll see
a big star so bright.

A star’s full of gas
that wants to get free.
But don’t go near.
It could burn you or me.

Their cores are dense.
Some only look grey.
We can’t really see them
during the day.

The gravity force
that holds them together
turns atoms to plasma
and makes solar weather.

And when they explode
with not enough room
they run out of space
and go KABOOM!

They’ll turn bright colours
as they explode.
It’s what stars do
when they get really old.

If they shoot through the air
and across the sky
they’re not really stars
just fallen and shy.

Stars burn like fire.
They burn all day.
But it’s not their fault.
They were made that way!

Up in the Milky Way
where they all live
is a dazzling family
that just wants to give.

Stars are beautiful.
They light up our night.
When things seem wrong
they make it seem right.

 

Magical Mars by Zarbakht
Trinity Anglican School, White Rock

The second smallest planet, Mars
has lots of craters, many scars
that make a pretty pattern
but not the same as Saturn
surrounded by the stars.

Mars, named after the God of War
might be lovely to explore.
You can’t just simply have it
because it’s THE best planet
as you would ask for more.

It has two little lumpy moons
with no baboons or crazy tunes.
But has a massive storm
of dust clouds after dawn.
Be warned, or we are doomed!

 

Frosty Mars by James
Trinity Anglican School, White RockFrosty

We have a planet called Mars, Mars!
Don’t mix it up with those Mars-bars!
It has two moons. One’s called Phobos
and the brother to him is Demios.

Mars is closer to the stars
and Mars has polar ice caps.
Like frosty frozen water traps
that used to be splishity-splash.

Mars has a huge canyon maze
that gives you a heck of a daze.
Its giant volcano looks bronze
and we named it Olympus Mons.

There’s dancing dust storms
we view as a haze
of rusty red sand
like a fiery blaze!

 

Miss Neptune by Jarrod
Trinity Anglican School, White RockBlue planet176

There is a gas planet called Neptune
where once was a raging typhoon.
It has pretty thin rings
and many more things
and looks like a giant balloon.

At one-hundred two-quadrillion
four-hundred and ten-trillion billion
its kilogram mass
is too huge for a gas.
There’s atoms of rock in their zillions.

At fifty thousand kilometres wide
nobody could survive inside.
We can’t breathe its air
there’s no oxygen there!
And the gasses move like a big tide.

Only one craft has ever flown by.
It’s so far, we’d probably die
before we got there
and I hope you’re aware
it’s not visible to the naked eye.

I wonder if Neptune is nice
and was she created by Christ?
We’ve found fourteen moons
like some bumpy balloons.
She’s a giant of gasses and ice.

 

Mind-Blowing Mars by Millie
Trinity Anglican School, White Rock

Next-door is a planet called Mars
with the highest mountain of all.
It has caverns and craters and more
with a volcano, silent and tall.

A year there is longer than ours.
A day lasts for just a bit more.
Add thirty-odd minutes to twenty-four hours
to balance our day-time scores.

Mars has two moons: Phobos and Demios
named after two Greek mythical men.
Mars is named after a Roman god
and looks like it’s coloured in red pen.

Mars has two polar ice caps
so water on Mars has not gone.
And now we believe that life was there.
But living here wouldn’t be fun.

Mars has the largest deep canyon.
You can see it from far out in space.
Although Mars is Earth’s planet-neighbour
it can still be a very cold place.

 

Gigantic Jupiter by Katie
Trinity Anglican School, White Rock

Jupiter is a big planet.
It has a very big mass.
As well as many moons
It is even made of gas.

Jupiter is fifth from the Sun.
It has a giant dot
which is the size of Earth
instead of a small red spot.

This great big golden gas ball
really stands out in space.
He turns as fast as a whistle
but remains a lifeless place.

Jupiter has a big storm
that is constantly on-going.
It could blow you right away
as though someone was throwing.

You are a wonder to me.
It seems like he can fly.
I couldn’t live without him.
Jupiter’s king of the sky!

 

Our Neighbour Mars by Joel
Trinity Anglican School, White Rock

Out in the Solar System
there’s a planet we call Mars.
It dances out in space;
the hue of rusty cars.

The fourth planet from the Sun
it’s fairly small and red.
A terrestrial rocky planet
where any life seems dead.

Mars is as red as blood.
A rusty dusty ball.
It has a North and South
and size-wise it’s quite small

Mars is a wonderful planet
that orbits round the Sun.
Our Sun is so huge and colourful;
is very hot and heaps of fun!

 

Jolly Jupiter  by Maya
Trinity Anglican School, White RockOur Gas Giants

Oh giant, jolly Jupiter
You are bigger than a thousand classrooms
You are a perfect pretty planet
And I won’t be visiting soon.

You are an amazingly large planet
With sixty-three magnificent moons
There’s helium in your atmosphere
Like many big beautiful balloons.

How stormy you are
With your big red spot
Your spot is a raging solar storm
Which could not be mistaken for a dot.

You are the king of the sky
For you are my largest client
You are Zeus in Greek mythology
You are an amazing gas giant.

Twelve years to orbit to Sun
When you are extra stormy you cry
You have fairly faint narrow rings
Oh, Jupiter! King of the sky.

 

Saturn’s Wonderful Features  by Jason
Trinity Anglican School, White RockSaturn planet3

Saturn has lots of moons
But sadly no lagoons.

Saturn has thirty-two rings
And many other things.

It can be seen from Earth
In places such as Perth.

An orbit takes twenty-nine years
Like some spinning souvenirs.

At night our sensational Saturn
Looks like a luminous lantern.
It appears that it has ears
But that’s really ring rotation.

Its temperature’s one-thirty-nine degrees Celsius;
Over fifty-eight thousand kilometres, radius.

It’s mostly made of hydrogen gas
And a place that doesn’t have any green grass.

 

Our Solar System  by Raphael
Trinity Anglican School, White RockThe spectacular solar system

Mercury is the closest planet to our Sun.
A year is almost eighty-eight days long.
Its surface has many wrinkles;
gets hot and is very strong.

Mars is the fourth planet
and looks rusty red and old.
It takes a long time to orbit the Sun
and its temperature’s very cold.

Let’s move to warm bright Venus
with its rocky crust of granite.
Where a day is longer than a year
on this second closest planet.

The Sun is a very big star.
All the planets surround this fire ball.
It is one million times the size of Earth
and I think it’s very cool!

Saturn is a gas giant
Around it are many rings.
It’s the second largest planet
with its rings of pretty bling.

Neptune is extremely cold.
The furthest planet from the Sun.
Its atmosphere has no oxygen.
And it is the eighth one of them.

Orbiting dark awesome space
and mostly made of granite,
our Solar System is amazing.
And those were my favourite planets!

 

So Far Up There  by Isaac
Trinity Anglican School, White RockSun Planet explode

The Sun is a ball of boiling gas.
The Sun is a twinkling star.
Its radius is oh, so big
and it’s also very far.

Our wonderful super solar system
is home to many a planet.
Some are gassy and very big
and some are made of granite.

Mars looks like a rust ball
so high up in the sky.
I will never grow that tall.
I’m up to my Mum’s thigh.

 

Saturn is the sixth one out
and is a gassy giant.
Should you want to land on it
you’ll find it’s one bad client!

Far out, a dwarf planet
that is bigger than my toe.
We think of it as very small.
Its name is poor Pluto.

Close to home, the Moon looks like
a disc in a glistening sea.
It’s showing off its beauty
for the whole wide world to see.

 

Mysterious Majestic Mars by Sophie C
Trinity Anglican School, White Rock

There is a planet called Mars.
It is half the size of Earth.
Mars is our next-door neighbour.
It might be under a curse.

There is a planet called Mars
and Mars has two marvellous moons.
The fourth planet from the Sun
is where we might visit real soon!

There is a planet called Mars
which has the tallest mountain.
It has some amazing views.
Over twenty k’s high and counting.

There is a planet called Mars.
She has some beautiful hills.
Her ground’s a ridiculous red
and her dust storms could get you killed.

There is a planet called Mars.
If we moved there, could we survive?
There is not much air on Mars.
Not sure we could stay alive.

If you ever go to Mars
be careful of those dusty storms.
They’re known to rage for days and days …
and now you have been warned!

SATURDAY 10th October

You can now enjoy browsing through the photos and poems from our afternoon of poetry recitals by local student authors by clicking on the blue writing below:

Poetry Party 2015

Poems & Picture-Book stories for you to enjoy

Poems & Picture-Book stories for your enjoyment.

(for a PDF version of this poster, click here: Picture Bk & Poetry Party poster A4)

We have two talented Picture-Book author/illustrators sharing their stories!

Cairns-based author Diane Finlay published “The Duck With No Quack” in 2006. It is about a duckling called Oswald who seems to have lost his quack.  His Mama sets off in search of Oswad’s quack while her babies are having an afternoon nap.

Mena Creek artist Jacque Duffy published a series of children’s books starting with “That’s Not A House” after Cyclone Larry devastated her home near Innisfail. She will be sharing her latest book, “The Bear Said Please”.  A very hungry bear looks everywhere for his favourite food. He learns how to find it and the best way to get it.

Bring your favourite picture book to the event, so we can photograph them together and see which ones rock.

We will be at the Poolside Patio, Rydges Tradewinds Hotel, 137 Esplanade, Cairns.  Storytelling and Poetry recitals will be from 2pm to 3pm.

This event is a great opportunity for young poets and future authors to meet with well-established writers with a question-time session after the presentations.

Hosted by Science Rhymes poet Celia Berrell, with generous support from Rydges Tradewinds Hotel.

 

Please email celia@sciencerhymes.com.au to confirm your attendance and /or ask any questions about the event.

 

GROWING BRIGHTER – a free resource

Growing brighter

The Science & Poetry of Light – growing brighter

Click on the blue writing above to download a visually rich 32 page (3MB) presentation of poems and science concepts about light, which takes about 12 minutes to read.  It is the culmination of a three month project, between Science Rhymes author Celia Berrell & Whitfield State School students (9-11yrs), to share the science of light which inspired them the most.  We hope you enjoy it!

Growing brighter 2

 

Your Science Poems 2015

Including poems about light to celebrate the International Year of Light and National Science Week.

Twinkling Stars by Harmonie
Whitfield State SchoolTwinkling Stars

Flickering starlight in the night.
Impossible to miss.
Although it seems natural
it wasn’t always like this.

A star is oh, so far away.
Immensely far from here.
Before that light can reach our eyes
it passes through our atmosphere.

Different densities of air
can change the view of starlight’s place.
Its light is interrupted here
compared with outer space.

The twinkling light of a far-off star
is only an Earth-bound view
as stars themselves don’t twinkle.
And now you know that too.

 

Bright Shiny Rays by CocoBright shiny rays 1
Whitfield State School

What’s never murky or blurry
and couldn’t be foggy or dreary?
What’s ever so bright and full of colour
happy to shine on a polished mirror?

It’s light, illuminating our world
in glimmers and gleams both new and old.
Refracting, reflecting and being absorbed
light gives us life, and light is adored.

 

Bioluminescence by Harmonie
Whitfield State School

In the deep dark seas, a light shines bright –Anglerfish cartoon
from what, we do not know.
A white-lit glow in dead of night
holds terrors far below.

An anglerfish’s light will show
its jaws, thrust open wide.
And smaller fish, struck by the glow
swim foolishly inside.

How does its light, as bright as day
occur so naturally?
If you don’t know, then I’ll explain
and then we all will see.

Some luminous bacteria
(their light is hard to miss)
are helping deep-sea anglerfish
via symbiosis.

The female angler has a spine
on which bacteria sit.
Their microbe-hostess doesn’t mind.
In fact, she’s proud of it!

Bacteria provide the light
that lures the angler’s food.
And in return those microbes will
get shelter from the gloom.

The two live out connected lives.
Both working hand-in-hand.
Until the fish, without a fight
is caught and brought on land.

 

Light Duties for a Photon by AvaPhoton
Whitfield State School

Photons who are unemployed
but keen, hardworking, bright
we’d like you to be part of
a brand new ray of light.

To be a working photon
you’ll set the world aglow.
Helping plants to make us food
so we can live and grow.

You have to be a lightweight
move quickly, still be calm.
You must be an optimist
to keep your sparkle on.

After you have left the Sun
aim straight for Earth’s blue sky.
If the photon job’s for you
we’d like you to apply!

 

Moon Light by Tayler
Whitfield State SchoolMoon 4

Peering through the misty gloom
the light that shimmers from the moon
is never that of its own
but simply a reflection shown
of light-waves from our sunny Sun
beaming over everyone.

 

Rainbows by Tehya
(Whitfield State School, Cairns)Rainbow file0001227500548

Rows of ripe colour spread through the sky
They look so extraordinarily high
Sometimes vibrant and crystal clear
But often faded and not so near.

When rain clouds clear, the sun shines bright
Then raindrops are dazzled by the light
Which first refracts, then reflects on each drop
As a spectrum of colour bursts with a pop.

Some think that rainbows hold magic and mystery
Myths about gold were believed throughout history
Races on rainbows?  Now that can’t be right
It’s simply the wonderful science of light.

 

Decoding Bursts of Light by Moona Perrotin

Do we see reality as it is?eye for Moona
A third of the brain’s cortex is engaged
in vision.  The eye has a retina with 130 million
photo-receptors but there are even more

neuro-receptors.
They construct what we see
out of the arrangement of the bursts of light
trapped by the lens in our eye.

Reality exists without us watching.
If our neuro-receptors construct a good likeness
of that reality, it will enable us to survive
better than others of our species and it will be biased
towards our specific needs.

Light is information.
Fitness for purpose is the outcome of evolution.
Fitness for purpose means to interpret usefully
the interface between reality and me.

Things are preceptional symbols only.
Reality is far more complex and fluid
than the crude icons we name as things.
Reality is energy, vibration, light,
is consciousness realised.

 

Bush Fire  by William
Trinity Anglican School, Kewarra BeachBush Fire

The fire roars across the land.
The ash is like dusty sand.
Motor cars burn and rust.
Family memories turn to dust.

When lives are at stake, no-one’s civil
running from the blood-red devil.
Oh!  Oh, no.  What an awful sight.
The flares, the flares, diamond bright.

Then, when the rain pitters down
the earth colour is a dim dark brown.
They’re safe at last, the rain is coming.
They’re safe at last, from all the running.

 

 

I Want To Be A Scientist  by Phoebe
Redlynch State CollegeSci Clown

I want to be a scientist
Observe the world around
I want to be a scientist
Not a boring old clown.

I want to make smart guesses
Hypothesising things
Doing cool experiments
And wearing lab-coat strings.

I want to be a scientist
That studies Earth or Sky
Recording all my data which
Will answer what and why.

I want to be a scientist
Who has a famous name
Receiving Nobel Prizes
So that will be my aim.

 

The Wondrous Human Body by Sascha
Redlynch State CollegeLou Kilver

Rarely do we think about how the human body works
And instead we live our lives unaware of all the perks.
Each and every organ combined with every nerve
We’re made up of eleven systems, each unobserved.
When we’re sitting down, we hardly stop and realise
How we breathe, digest and perspire, all to our surprise.
Little do we know about the digestive system.
We simply eat the food that appears in our vision.
Did you know these molecules absorbed by our bloodstream
Are all a part of the systems which work as one large scheme.
Every time we breathe out, exhale or perhaps have a sigh
The carbon dioxide is released, do we ask why?
The deoxygenated blood needs to be replenished!

 

Refraction by Brea
Redlynch State CollegeRefraction

If you
shine a light
through a curved lens
the path your light takes
also bends. This trick is called
refraction. Speed of light
changing from one
substance to
another.

 

Erbium Haiku by Emily
Redlynch State College

Erbium and tin
are both metals, but carbon
is more abundant.

 

Human Homeostasis by Jessica
Redlynch State Collegebalance 2

I never knew about my body.
To me, it was all very foggy.
But now that I have studied science
I no longer need any guidance.
Homeostasis is the key
As it controls stability.
Involving all the body’s organs
To regulate our fluid portions.
The kidneys are the most important.
They help to keep our insides constant.
Their roles are really quite simplistic:
Stop the body going ballistic!
They regulate the body’s water
Keeping mineral ions in order.
They also move out extra waste
While glucose, proteins, stay in place.
Overall, I’ve become a genius
Since I’ve proved this marvellous thesis.
It’s simply an essential basis;
Human life needs homeostasis.

 

The Moon by Alistair
Redlynch State College

Midnight
Floating high.
Later on
The morning sky.

 

Volcanology by Zayli
Redlynch State CollegeVolcanology

Do you want to know
what makes a volcano go?
First you add some bi-carb soda.
And inside the same container
you put in some vinegar.
Shake, shake, shake
pour, pour, pour.
Whooooaaaa.
Watch it bubble
it bubble, it bubble.
This is what it looks like
when you replicate a volcano.
You take acid & base.
Watch out when
they touch.
Whooooaaaa,
Watch it bubble
it bubble, it bubble.
The bi-carb base tries to
neutralise the acidic vinegar.
They react, making carbonic acid
which fizzes out carbon dioxide gas.
And now you know what
makes a volcano go!

 

Tired of Science? by Lia
Redlynch State CollegeApple

Do you like science? Science to me
is Newton’s apple-tree gravity.
Albert Einstein’s crazy equation;
Earth’s seasoned tilt and day rotation.
It’s when Neil Armstrong stepped on the Moon;
How penicillin’s no longer immune.
The theory of evolution;
Starting a carbon revolution.
Organisms still developing;
Why the dinosaurs were threatening.

I think it all started with big bang theory …
but now I’m feeling incredibly weary!

 

Three States of Matter Haikus by Bailey3 states
Redlynch State College

Solid:
A solid has a
fixed volume, as well as shape.
Molecules compact.

Liquid:
Fixed volume, no shape.
Most certainly a liquid
has fluidity.

Gas:
Fills any space with
no volume, no shape.
It must be a gas.

 

 

Launching National Science Week in Cairns

It’s 2015 and we’re celebrating the International Year of Light!

010 poem for blog

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since June, students from Whitfield State School have been helping to create an entertaining & educational resource of poems about LIGHT to share during National Science Week. Our first performance was on Saturday morning 15th August at Handmade Cans, 1/47 Shields Street, Cairns.

 

Handmade Cans: The Science & Poetry of Light presentation

Celia, Tayler, Ava & Tehya

Celia, Tayler, Ava & Tehya

Ava, Tayler and Tehya recited all the poems in our presentation The Science & Poetry of Light to a friendly audience at Bones & Jones Café / Handmade Cans craft shop at 10am & 11am on Saturday.

If anyone was nervous, it didn’t show because we all had too much fun sharing poems & science about rainbows, twinkling stars, blue skies and more.

Congratulations to the children in the audience who had a go at reciting poems too!

Thank you Tania & Steve at Handmade Cans for providing such a colourful & cosy venue, and to all the parents who supported this project.

 

James Cook University’s Launch for National Science Week

NSW screen

 

 

 

 

 

 

An impressive line-up of JCU scientists shared their latest research through talks and exhibits at the Tanks Art Centre, Edge Hill, starting at 3pm on Saturday 15th August. Because I had registered the Science & Poetry of Light presentation at Handmade Cans on the National Science Week website, JCU’s event organiser Lisa Jones made contact and kindly invited me to be part of the JCU celebrations.

I agreed to help children write and recite poems about science at a small craft table, one of the many side-shows for the event. But when I received the programme schedule on Friday, I discovered they’d also allocated a 5 minute segment at the beginning of the event for me to deliver a Science Rhyme recital!

The MC for the afternoon’s presentations was Professor Andrew Krockenberger. On discovering I was reciting a science poem to open the event, he was inspired to share a science poem too, about the microscopic creature called a Tardigrade.  I was unable to find the poem on the internet, but Prof Krockenberger kindly supplied it:

Waterbear Down by the blogger “Miss Prism”
I serenade the Tardigrade
He’s nature’s superhero.
He can’t be killed by being chilled
To near absolute zero.
He’s happy to be dried or fried
With X-rays or with heat;
He will my dears, survive for years
Without a bite to eat.
He lives in soil, and springs that boil
And every hostile place
He’d even thrive in – well, survive –
The vacuum of space.
You need a blade or hand-grenade
To slay the hardy tardigrade.

I then shared the Science Rhyme Aurora Borealis (find it on the Science Rhymes homepage or in the book Celia Berrell’s Science Rhymes). Earth’s Auroras are great examples of natural “light shows” of excited electrons in our atmosphere. So I dressed in fairy-lights and explained that the honour of being on stage made me “… so excited, if I was an electron, I’d be jumping up and down emitting photons of light”.

Fairylights at JCU

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What a fantastic start to National Science Week here in Cairns!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Solar System Celebrities

Preparing for 5M presentation at TAS Kewarra BeachThanks to all the Trinity Anglican School year 5 students and teachers at White Rock and Kewarra Beach, I have been seeking out interesting website links to help them write poems about the Solar System. Here are 12 topics from the list students gave me yesterday.

 

1.  CERES: A SPOTTY ASTEROID

http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news-detail.html?id=4633

http://dawnblog.jpl.nasa.gov/

At almost 1,000km diameter (across), Ceres is the largest body in the Asteroid Belt (in between Mars and Jupiter). We recently gave it the title “Dwarf Planet” because of its size. We thought asteroids were hard rocky bodies, but Ceres contains lots of water (as ice).

Bright white spots on Ceres have scientists excited. What’s that spot? Is it ice, salt or some other highly reflective material?

Could some of these white spots be where there’s a kind of hole in Ceres, blowing out gasses into space – like a soft simpering volcano? Maybe Ceres is farting! The space probe Dawn has taken a photo that shows a kind of haze over the biggest group of white spots.

http://www.nature.com/news/mystery-haze-appears-above-ceres-bright-spots-1.18032

Many craters have pointed peaks at their centre, as though the impacted surface of Ceres melted and “bounced back” after it was hit by something, such as another small asteroid (shooting star).

Some surface areas on Ceres are smooth, as though they have had mud or slushy snow flowing over them.

So Ceres is more than a pock-marked block of rock. It is a special asteroid with interesting mysteries we hope to solve.

 

2.  COMET 67P: DUCKS & DRAGONS

It took 10 years for the Rosetta solar-powered spacecraft (and its probe Philae) to meet up with the Comet 67P Churyumov-Gerasimenko. (This 10 minute video is about how that was achieved – not much comet info.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5b7u6stKgfs

I got the information below from this 30 minute lecture video – very detailed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BuotFLgXVY

  • Comet 67P has a surface as black as a tarmac road. Apparently our Moon has too! But they both reflect the Sunlight, which makes them look white when not in the shade.
  • Comet 67P is 4km long and shaped like a duck. Its north & south pole axis is on the duck shape’s narrow neck. So it spins, with the two large knobs circling like a fairground ride.
  • It rotates every 12 hrs and is colder than anywhere on Earth (-68°C).
  • It is half the density of ice, more like cork – so a lot of its material must be like fluffy snow.
  • Comets are dirty snowballs (with tails of gas and icy particles streaming away from the Sun).
  • It is spurting out jets of dust and gas, mostly on its bright side. But sometimes a jet on its dark side appears (which scientist think is weird).
  • The particles shooting into space come in two varieties; dense particles, like grains of sand, and fluffy ones, like a dandelion seed or fluffy snowflakes.
  • It looks like it has a crack in its neck. So is it going to break into two pieces?
  • There are areas that look like sand dunes (even though there is no wind on a comet). There are rocky looking cliffs (probably ice coated in dust) with landslides of loose boulders and smoother avalanches.
  • There are craters with very thin rims and, strangest of all, are some deep pits lined with 1 metre diameter round balls, that scientists have nick-named “dragon eggs”!

 

3.  ENCELADUS SPITS ON SATURN

There are 101 geysers in those “Tiger Stripes” on Saturn’s second moon Enceladus, spitting out water from a deep underground ocean. So does Enceladus’s Moon-Spit have germs? Could it contain microbes? Some scientists think so …

http://www.astrobio.net/news-brief/enceladus-in-101-geysers/

But others have discovered that Enceladus may contain an “anti-freeze” of ammonia. Ammonia readily mixes with water, making ammonium hydroxide. Dilute ammonium hydroxide is often called “household ammonia” and is used for cleaning! So would Enceladus be too “clean” for germs (and microbes) to grow? Start reading near the colourful image of moon-spit half way down the page where the paragraph begins with the word Ammonia:

http://www.astrobio.net/topic/solar-system/saturn/enceladus/how-enceladus-got-its-stripes/

 

4.  EUROPA: MISSION TO FIND LIFE

Giant gas planet Jupiter has many moons. But we are most excited about its second moon, Europa, because we think it may have an underground ocean. I wrote the poem Europa’s Secrets from the information we gained with the Cassini space probe mission.

There is a fantastic 3 minute video on this Europa-mission link below. Beautiful images of Europa’s surface as well as what we hope to discover there with this new mission to Europa:

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/europa-clipper/

And this link has more information about Europa:

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=4627

NASA’s Galileo mission to Jupiter in the late 1990s produced strong evidence that Europa, about the size of Earth’s moon, has an ocean beneath its frozen crust. If proven to exist, this global ocean could hold more than twice as much water as Earth. With abundant salt water, a rocky sea floor, and the energy and chemistry provided by tidal heating, Europa may have the ingredients needed to support simple organisms.

The mission plan calls for a spacecraft to be launched to Jupiter in the 2020s, arriving in the distant planet’s orbit after a journey of several years. The spacecraft would orbit the giant planet about every two weeks, providing many opportunities for close flybys of Europa. The mission plan includes 45 flybys, during which the spacecraft would image the moon’s icy surface at high resolution and investigate its composition and the structure of its interior and icy shell.

 

5.  IO: EXPLODING MINI-MOON

Tiny Io is the closest moon to Saturn. Tortured by its parent planet’s gravity, Io “goes off” every now and again! Lava fountains, lava rivers and lava lakes have been recorded in relation to Io’s volcanic explosions.

http://www.astrobio.net/news-brief/curtains-fire-peering-ios-volcanic-laboratory/

 

6.  JUPITER’S STORMY EYE

A gargantuan cyclone or tempest rages in Jupiter’s thick gassy layers of hydrogen and helium. And scientists think that updrafts are why it’s raged for years. It’s a bit like ocean currents that can form a maelstrom or whirlpool. Or tornadoes and cyclones in our atmosphere.

There’s concise information about Jupieter’s red spot in the orange box at the bottom of this article:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2507965/Mystery-Jupiters-Great-Red-Spot-solved-Never-ending-tempest-explained-unusual-motion-planets-gases.html

Get in the mood with some whirlpool videos …

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBWqaamZ01I

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QR0acn_2LXs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqXAKCFVi_4

Or with National Geographic storm chasers …

http://www.nationalgeographic.com.au/nature/storm-chaser-video-reveals-devastating-tornadoes.aspx

 

7.  MARS: DUST STORMS

A giant crater (Hellas Basin) full of dust is mostly to blame for these incredible storms. The crater’s bottom is warmer than the atmosphere above. This difference in temperature can cause the air on Mars to whip up storms and fling that dust around in just a matter of hours.

http://www.universetoday.com/14892/mars-dust-storms/

As the dust grains rub together in a storm, they can cause static electricity so powerful it could change the chemistry of the molecules in the air, making it snow Hydrogen Peroxide! (which is poisonous to living things).

http://www.universetoday.com/405/electrical-dust-storms-could-make-life-on-mars-impossible/

 

8.  MERCURY’S SPIDERcracked glass

Rock varieties on Mercury are highlighted by how they reflect light colours differently. This detailed image clearly shows the location of the Mercury’s “Spider”.

http://www.planetary.org/blogs/guest-blogs/bill-dunford/20140127-giant-spider-of-mercury.html

Situated inside the giant crater named the Caloris Basin (about 1,500 km across). A smaller impact site (Apollodorus – about 40 km diameter) has lines, like spider legs, radiating from its centre. These furrows named Pantheon Fossae are hundreds of kilometres long. They would have been formed when a meteor struck there, making Mercury’s crust spread out the stress of the impact, similar to the pattern of a cracked glass.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080923084541.htm

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2008/30jan_mercurysurprise/

 

9.  SUN’S LOOPY FLARES

Video of solar flares

https://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/news/170907-solar-flares-vin-spd.

A general info video on the Sun (beware the measurements are in miles not kilometres, degrees farenheit not centigrade):

One mystery about the Sun is why its CORONA (upper atmosphere) is heaps hotter than the Sun’s surface. Broiling on the surface is a plasma of hydrogen & helium gas behaving in a “loopy” way. Scientists now think that the action of magnetic fields and nanoflares make the corona hotter than the surface.

https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18020-suns-rain-could-explain-why-corona-heat-is-insane/

https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21528785-200-cold-solar-loops-may-help-solve-corona-puzzle/

 

10.  TITAN’S METHANE RAIN

Titan is Saturn’s largest moon. Titan is larger than planet Mercury and shrouded in a thick orange-green soupy atmosphere of methane, ten times thicker than Earth’s blue air atmosphere.

I love this 4 minute video from the Huygens probe as it parachuted down to the surface of Titan, then looked up at the Sun before resting its gaze on the pebbly landscape nearby. One raindrop of methane (condensation) falls. Remember this is a speeded up video as it took over 30 minutes to fall through Titan’s thick methane atmosphere. So the raindrop doesn’t appear to be as slow as it was in “real time”.

http://www.space.com/28265-saturn-moon-titan-landing-anniversary.html

below: NASA facts about Titan (see Alien Weather):

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/science/index.cfm?SciencePageID=75

Bathtub rings on Titan – nice colour photos:

http://www.astrobio.net/news-exclusive/bathtub-rings-suggest-titans-dynamic-seas/

 

11.  URANUS: HARD-HEARTED WITH WEIRD ORBIT

Uranus has two sets of dark rings – probably from a smashed-up moon or moons. And has a weird orbit around the Sun, as though it is “rolling round the Sun”. Here’s a great video of information about our quirky, often misunderstood gas / ice giant which possibly has diamonds in its core!

http://study.com/academy/lesson/uranus-moons-rings-atmosphere-rotation.html

How to pronounce the word Uranus properly!

 

12.  VENUS: LAVA FLOWS & METAL SNOWS

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/on-venus-it-snows-metal-99154/?no-ist

There’s metal snow on the mountaintops of Venus. It’s far too hot for water ice!

Two types of metal: galena and bismuthinite in their metallic mineral form start to vapourise at Venus’ hot temperatures of 480°C. They float into the atmosphere as a metallic mist. Like water vapour on Earth, this mist condenses at higher cooler altitudes, making it fall back to the ground as shiny silver frosty snow.

Check out “Does it really ‘snow’ Galena on Venus?”

http://geology.com/minerals/galena.shtml

What does Venus use instead of face cream, to keep her face wrinkle free?

https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn27756-lava-lakes-spotted-on-venus-may-be-how-it-stays-so-blemish-free/

Booksellers Day Saturday 8th August

Collins Booksellers Smithfield is celebrating National Booksellers Day by inviting local authors to help serve their customers on Saturday 8th August.

As part of the lead-up to National Science week, Science Rhymes author, Celia Berrell will be there from 10am sharing poems about LIGHT.  Other poets will be there too.

Please drop in and join us!

Collins Booksellers Day small

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reaching out to Pluto

I love Pluto

Join the PLUTO FAN CLUB!

Launched in 2006, the New Horizons spacecraft flew past the distant dwarf planet Pluto on 14th July 2015.

The information New Horizons will send back to Earth over the next year or so should get everyone excited about Pluto & other objects in the Kuiper Belt, and will ultimately add to our understanding of the whole Solar System.

NASA posts videos about the New Horizons venture here. “Seeing Pluto in a New Light” is over an hour of interviews with the main scientists, but it’s where I learnt the information below. There will be a new video about Pluto on Friday 24th August.  (Most of the other videos are short.)

Pluto is an isolated small planet showing geological activity (possible geysers and volcanoes), because it doesn’t have lots of impact craters (whereas our Moon has plenty of them). Triton, orbiting Neptune, also has few impact craters. Astronomers though that Triton’s geological activity (such as the tidal energy Earth experiences from the Moon) was because the giant gas planet Neptune’s gravity is pulling (tugging) on Triton. But there is no giant gas planet near Pluto. So this week we have learnt that a small solitary dwarf planet, far far away from the heat energy of the Sun is capable of having something like a warm centre with energy that can create volcanoes or geysers (or something similar) to make its surface cover over any crater holes.

This ABC News article has some great photos and a very helpful half-minute video at the bottom:

The bedrock of Pluto’s mountains must be made of water-ice rather than rock. Pluto seems to have a nitrogen-ice coating (frosting). Pluto is losing lots of nitrogen gas from its atmosphere into space. So there must be a way nitrogen is being released from the planet’s insides, possibly from geysers and or volcanoes. Is Pluto farting nitrogen?

American, Clyde William Tombaugh, discovered Pluto, so the scientists want to name the heart shaped region after him (Tombaugh Regio).

Sometimes it is the silly things like this issue with Disney’s cartoon character Pluto, that help us remember names. It may also be why some of us love to hear about the planet Pluto!

 

A POETIC ANGLE: Are we in love with Pluto?

Pluto has a smooth heart-shaped icy-bright area on its surface. Pluto has also amazed scientists by having some kind of geological activity going on inside it. This means it ought to have something warm inside … like a heart!

RAINBOWS making poetic waves

Can you write a poem about science for National Science Week? Tahya from Whitfield State School has started the countdown with her poem RAINBOWS (below).  Students in Cairns are helping Science Rhymes poet Celia Berrell create a collection of verse for this year’s National Science Week (themed Making Waves: The Science of Light).  And this is an invitation for you to have a go too!

A4 NSW Poster image small

 

RAINBOWS  by Tehya

Rows of ripe colour spread through the sky
The look so extraordinarily high
Sometimes vibrant and crystal clear
But often faded and not so near.

When rain clouds clear, the sun shines bright
Then raindrops are dazzled by the light
Which first refracts, then reflects on each drop
As a spectrum of colour bursts with a pop.

Some think that rainbows hold magic and mystery
Myths about gold were believed throughout history
Races on rainbows?  Now that can’t be right
It’s simply the wonderful science of light.

There are nine weeks left for you to pen your poetic piece as we count down to blast-off!

Lasers

Lasers are a relatively new light technology that has a fantastic reach of applications.  From surgery to entertainment, it helps us cut, weld and have sensational fun.

  1. We can trust NASA to provide a clear explanation to the question What is a laser?
  2. The BBC UK provide a written explanation for year 10 students in their bite-size series.  This may be easier to understand if you check out the NASA explanation first.
  3. The first one minute cartoon on this Planet Science page explains why photons are happy to travel together in laser beams.
  4. Scienceline gives us some laser history.

laser show

Did you know there are competitions to create the most spectacular and complex light shows with lasers?  This You Tube video was posted by Dynamic Lasers.

 

Celia Berrell
PO Box 830
Hervey Bay QLD 4655

Email:
feedback@sciencerhymes.com.au
Mobile:
0408 069 192
website by Precedence